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Bruno Fernandes demonstrated why he is the `King of Manchester United.'
Manchester United, led by head coach Ruben Amorim, beat Bilbao (Spain) 3-0 in the first leg of the Europa League semifinals of the 2024-2025 season at San Mames in Bilbao, Spain on the 2nd (Korea time). With the victory, Manchester United greatly increased their chances of advancing to the finals. Manchester United will play its second game at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on the 9th.
There was no place to back down. Manchester United remains in 14th place with 10 wins, 9 draws and 15 losses (39 points) in the English Premier League this season. Since the launch of the EPL, the team has confirmed its lowest points in a season. On top of that, he lost in the quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup and the round of 16 of the English Football Association (FA) Cup, losing his pride.
Alejandro Garnacho scored in the 5th minute of the first half for Manchester United. However, he was ruled offside and unfortunately missed the opportunity to score. After that, he gave up the game lead to the opponent for a while. However, starting with Kazemiro's first goal in the 30th minute of the first half, the atmosphere changed. He even had a numerical advantage in the 35th minute of the first half. Bilbao Dani Vivian was shown a red card for fouling Rasmus Hoyleun's chance to score inside the penalty area. Manchester United completely took the lead as Fernandes succeeded neatly in the penalty kick that followed. Manchester United, which was in the mood, widened the gap by 3-0 with Fernandez's additional score just before the end of the first half. Manchester United also pushed their opponents in the second half. There were no additional points, but they kept the lead and won a valuable victory.
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Fernandez, who started the day, played full time and was responsible for two goals alone. There was a lot of praise from the local media in the UK. Sports Illustration gave a whopping 9.4 out of 10. The Sun gave Fernandes a high of nine points, saying that even if Manchester United won the Europa League, they would not be able to save the season. But whether he believes it or not, he set an example in the game. He calmly scored a penalty despite the deafening home team's support. He almost single-handedly led to United's unexpected glory, peak. Express also scored nine points and scored a netting goal on the penalty kick. A reliable player, a leader's performance, he explained.
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Meanwhile, the possibility of an EPL team clash in the Europa League final this season has increased. Not only Manchester United but also Tottenham won the semifinals on that day. Opta, which specializes in sports statistics, said Manchester United, which plays the second game as a home game, has a 97% chance of advancing to the finals and Tottenham's 91% chance of going to the finals on the road. The Europa League winners will qualify for the European Champions League (UCL) next season regardless of their league ranking.
There have been five matches between English teams in the finals of the European club competition.
Tottenham and Wolverhampton were attached for the first time in the final of the 1971-1972 season, when the UEFA Cup, the predecessor of the Europa League, was launched. Tottenham won 2-1 in the first away match and tied 1-1 in the second match at home to become the first UEFA Cup champion.
36 years later, Manchester United and Chelsea met in the UCL final of the 2007-2008 season. Manchester United led with Cristiano Ronaldo's first goal in a single match in Moscow, Russia, but Chelsea balanced it with Frank Lampard's equalizer. After facing 1-1 until extra time, Manchester United won 6-5 in the penalty shootout and reached the top. Park Ji-sung, who was a member of Manchester United at the time, helped his team reach the final, but Korean fans were greatly disappointed as he was not on the roster in the final.
In the UCL final in Madrid, Spain, in the 2018-2019 season, Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-0 to win the sixth title in the tournament. In the Europa League final in Baku, Azerbaijan, Chelsea defeated Arsenal 4-1 to lift their second trophy of their career. Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 with Kai Havertz's winning goal in the UCL final in Porto, Portugal, in the 2020-2021 season.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
